On November 19, 2001, the Bakhtar reopened for the first time in more than five years. The theater closed when Kabul's Taliban rulers deemed the moving images of cinema, as well as television and many other forms of entertainment, as idolatrous and against Islam. The Taliban abandoned Kabul on November 13 and five days later television and radio broadcasts had resumed, and a new video rental store had opened.

The cinema reopened with "Urudj" ("Ascension"), a classic Afghan film about the country's rebellion against the former Soviet Union, and "Elan", an Indian film.

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